The Jolly LLB franchise is preparing to look backward rather than forward. A fourth instalment is in the works, and reports say it will be a prequel that returns Arshad Warsi to the role of Jagdish Tyagi, the small-town lawyer who set the series in motion.
Variety India, cited by Bollywood Hungama, reports that the project is in the last leg of pre-production and that shooting is expected to wrap by January 2027. A source told the publication, “The project is currently in the last leg of pre-production. And it’s not taking the film forward. It’s a prequel.” The makers have not finalised a title, and no official release date has been announced; a 2027 release is expected.
A familiar face, an earlier chapter
Warsi first played Jolly in the 2013 courtroom comedy Jolly LLB, written and directed by Subhash Kapoor. The film mixed the formality of legal proceedings with humour and social comment, following a modest lawyer who takes on a high-profile case. It became a franchise partly because it made the courtroom feel accessible, and partly because Warsi’s Jolly was an underdog with a moral edge.
Akshay Kumar then took over the franchise in Jolly LLB 2 and returned for Jolly LLB 3. The third film, again directed by Kapoor, brought the two Jollys together: Warsi’s Jagdish Tyagi and Kumar’s Jagdishwar Mishra in a courtroom face-off. That collision became the franchise’s defining structural joke, with two actors playing versions of the same name in dispute.
The fourth film appears to step away from that collision. With Umesh Shukla named as director and the story reportedly set earlier in time, the picture is likely to explore an earlier chapter of Warsi’s character rather than continue the events of the third film.
Why the reset matters
This is a meaningful shift for Hindi cinema’s franchise memory. When a franchise changes leading men, it often moves on without looking back. Here, the next chapter appears to be handing the spotlight back to the original Jolly, while skirting the narrative pressure of the two-Jolly showdown. For audiences who followed the series from the first film, a prequel can restore the character’s origin story; for the studio, it is also a way to extend the property without resolving or repeating the last film’s face-off.
What is known and what is not
- Arshad Warsi returns as Jagdish Tyagi in the fourth instalment.
- The film is in the last leg of pre-production and is expected to wrap shooting by January 2027.
- Umesh Shukla is reported to direct, and the makers have not finalised the title.
- No official release date has been announced, though a 2027 release is expected.
- Casting beyond Warsi is unconfirmed; Saurabh Shukla’s Judge Sunder Lal Tripathi has been a recurring presence, but no return has been announced.
The prospect of familiar faces remains open. The first film also featured Amrita Rao, Boman Irani, Mohan Kapoor and Sanjay Mishra, but the report stops short of confirming any of them for the prequel. For now, the most concrete detail is also the most interesting one: the franchise is going back to the beginning, with the actor who first made Jolly a name worth fighting over.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
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